Teofimo Lopez tells his fans: My Soul WON’T be broken

By Boxing News - 11/30/2021 - Comments

By Huck Allen: Teofimo Lopez says his soul won’t be broken by his loss last Saturday night against George Kambosos Jr. Teofimo (16-1, 12 KOs) replied to his fans to let them know that he’s NOT going to fall apart after his 12 round split decision defeat against Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Some fans have been wondering about Teofimo’s mental health after he suddenly deleted his Twitter account and later reactivated it.

It’s a bitter pill for the 24-year-old Teofimo to swallow losing to a fighter he was supposed to destroy in one round. Kambosos, 28, is a good fighter, but he’s not viewed as one of the best at 135.

Even with his victory over Teofimo, Kambosos is still not seen as a super talent. Last Saturday, his success was attributed more to Teofimo being ring-rusty and not well-conditioned enough to fight hard for a complete 12 rounds.

Many boxing fans believe Teofimo’s father, Lopez Sr., is to blame for his loss because he pushed him to score a fast knockout of Kambosos and did not realize that his game plan led to Teo gassing out almost immediately.

There should have been a Plant-B game plan for Teofimo, but it appears that he never deviated from the original plan that he came into the fight with last Saturday.

Teofimo says he won’t be broken

It did look like he had some ring rust, and maybe 135 was an issue. He looked a little bit drawn at the weigh-in,” said ring announcer David Diamante to Boxing Social on Teofimo Lopez’s poor performance against Kambosos.

To Teofimo’s credit, he got his second wind in the eighth and fought well in the ninth and tenth rounds, coming close to stopping Kambosos after dropping him.

How much of that resurgence can be attributed to Teofimo alone is unknown. His father seemed to be more of a cheerleader in his corner than an experienced trainer giving helpful advice.

“Teofimo Lopez has great footwork,” said Diamante. “When you watch the kid dance when you watch him skip rope, he’s got great feet, and he didn’t use them.

“George Kambosos used the ring well, he had speed and counter-punching, and he was switched on. It was a really great performance.

“I think that’s part of the whole thing,” said Diamante when asked if Teofimo may have overlooked Kambosos by overthinking about a mega-clash with Devin Haney that he was expected to take in early 2022.

“For a fighter like Teofimo, he’s a special fighter, and Teofimo will come again. This is not the end of Teofimo Lopez. He’s a special fighter, and he’s not afraid to lose the O, which is good.

“He’s now lost the O, that’s okay, so now get back to work. Get back to the grind. You cannot overlook these guys, especially at the higher levels. I tell people all the time; the screws just tighten as you go up,” said Diamante.

Did Teofimo overlook Kambosos?

“It’s an interesting thing when you’re a guy like Teofimo Lopez. He was looked at after taking out Loma, who was ‘The Matrix,’ ‘High-Tech,’ one of the best in the world. Everyone was looking at him [Teofimo] as that. So going into a fight like that, everyone gets up for you.

Image: Teofimo Lopez tells his fans: My Soul WON'T be broken

“It’s hard for you to get up for them. So, I think it was possibly hard for Teofimo to get up for this fight, and he really needed to,” said Diamante on Teofimo possibly having a letdown for his match against Kambosos.

“Look, he had Covid, and he’s not been active. He wants to be active, but he has not been active.  The Loma fight was over a year ago, and I think we saw a combination of those things.

“Like you said, overlooking Kambosos might have been part of it,” said Diamante on why Teofimo lost to the underdog Kambosos.